Sherry Borsheim

Email communication is an integral part of our day, if you want to be successful and effective you need to write effective emails.  If you need to know how to be organized at work writing and receiving fewer emails can go a long way to get you there.  Of course this doesn’t mean you simply send emails the same way you have been just fewer.  You need to learn how to get your message across faster and more clearly.

Defining the Objective:  When you send an email you should have a result in mind.  What is it you want the recipient to do when they receive your email?  If you don’t have a clear idea of what you want the recipient to do when you write your email chances are that you won’t get the effect you’re actually hoping for.  If you want to save time, get the response you both need and want, and be more productive send very clear emails.  An email written with an objective in mind will lessen the number of emails that need to be written because of confusion or incorrect responses.

The Possible Action Responses:   There are several different ways people can respond to your message.  Knowing what those outcomes are will help you with writing an effective email.  The first is your recipient may need to actually take physical action in response.  Or you may only need a written response from them.  You can also send a “Read only” email.  As the name suggests you only need this message to be read.  Finally is the “FYI”.  The receiver only needs to file this email.  Want to know how to be organized at work? Here is a tip. When you receive FYI emails have a system for filing them.  And remember your inbox is NOT a filing system.

Creating a Subject Line:  You will write your subject line AFTER you write the body of your email message.  Your recipient should be able to tell before they ever click on your email to open it what action they will be expected to take.  Your goal is to summarize your objective right in the subject line.  The above responses can be summarized in the following way, “Action Required”, “Response Required”, “FYI”, and “Read Only”.  If you don’t know what to put in the subject line how will the person you are sending the email to know how to respond to it!

Attachments:   Be certain you attach any supporting documents that will be needed.  These documents are necessary to the message receiver to complete the expected outcome.  Keep in mind when sending supporting information using hyperlinks is only appropriate in internal emails.

The List of Recipients:  Who is getting this email?  Keeping your “To” line organized will help people understand how they are suppose to react to an email.  The primary “To” line should contain the name of the person or persons who actually need to take action on the email.  In your “Cc” line you will include the names of people who are affected by this email, but don’t need to take action or even respond to it.  If you need to keep someone in the loop, but don’t want the other recipients to know put them in the “Bcc” line.  This keeps them hidden from others receiving the same email.  Be judicial, don’t copy everyone on an email because you can.  Respect people’s inbox, keep them included when necessary, but that’s all.

Learning how to be organized at work incorporates all elements of your day.  Email is a big part of our day!  Writing effective email can both reduce the amount of time and energy we devote to it, and help us be better communicators and more productive workers!